It is generally known that a person's hearing loss is not normally uniform over the entire frequency spectrum of hearing. For example, in typical noise-induced hearing loss, the hearing loss is typically greater at higher frequencies than at lower frequencies. The degree of hearing loss at various frequencies varies with individuals. The measurement of an individual's hearing ability can be illustrated by an audiogram. An audiologist, or other hearing health professionals, will measure an individual's perceptive ability for differing sound frequencies and differing sound amplitudes. A plot of the resulting information in an amplitude/frequency diagram will graphically represent the individual's hearing ability, and will thereby represent the individual's hearing loss as compared to an established range of normal hearing for individuals. In this regard, the audiogram represents graphically the particular auditory characteristics of the individual. Other types of measurements relating to hearing deficiencies may be made.
Since individuals have differing hearing abilities with respect to each other, and oftentimes have differing hearing abilities between the right and left ears, it is normal to have some form of adjustment of the hearing devices to compensate for the characteristics of the hearing of the individual.
Numerous types of adjustable hearing devices are known. As such, details of the specifics of adjusting functions will not be described in detail.
The adjustment of hearing devices can be made in several ways. First, it has been known to have the manufacturer establish a computer-based programming function at its factory or outlet centers. In this form of operation, the details of the individual's hearing readings, such as the audiogram that has been obtained by the audiologist, are forwarded to the manufacturer for use in making the adjustments. Once adjusted, the hearing device or hearing devices are then sent back to the audiologist or directly to the intended user. Such an operation clearly suffers from the disadvantage of the loss of time in the transmission of the information and the return of the adjusted hearing device. In addition, an interactive adjustment involving the audiologist and the hearing device user is usually not possible. Furthermore, such arrangements characteristically deal only with the adjustment of the particular manufacturer's hearing devices, and are not readily adaptable for adjusting various types of hearing devices.
Yet another type of prior art programming system is utilized wherein the programming system is located near the audiologist who directly adjusts the hearing device for the hearing device user. In such an arrangement, it is common for each location to have a general purpose computer especially programmed to perform the adjustment function and provide it with an interface unit hard-wired to the computer for providing the programming function to the hearing device. In this arrangement, the hearing professional enters the audiogram or other patient-related hearing information into the computer, and thereby allows the computer to calculate the auditory parameters that will be optimal for the predetermined listening situations for the individual. The computer then directly programs the hearing device. Such specific programming systems and hard-wired interrelationship to the host computer are costly and do not lend themselves to ease of altering the programming functions.
Other types of programming or adjusting systems wherein centralized host computers are used to provide programming access via telephone lines and the like are also known, and suffer from many of the problems of cost, lack of ease of usage, lack of flexibility in reprogramming, and the like.
Known methods for adjusting hearing devices are disclosed, for example, by WO 99/09 799 and by U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,803. Other types of devices having a self-identification feature for device detection are disclosed, for example, by EP-1 309 222 A2 and by US 2005/0068182.
Furthermore, US 2005/000 81 75 A1 discloses a system for programming hearing devices with a host computer that is wirelessly connectable to the hearing devices via a hearing device programmer. This known system bears the risk that the hearing device programmer connects to the wrong hearing device resulting in malfunctions due to bad or wrong adjustment of the hearing device.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for adjusting one or more hearing devices, which method does not have the above-mentioned disadvantages.